Even as bribery allegations and an unexpected exit of its India MD make headlines, computer technology firm Oracle maintains that it is business as usual for the company in India.
"We have categorically denied allegations made against Oracle India. It is business as usual for us. We have shared our stand with our customers and partners and they stand by us. Our business is in no way affected by these allegations," interim MD Shailendra Kumar, who took charge after Sandeep Mathur quit, told HT.
HT had first reported on October 9 that Sandeep Mathur had quit Oracle.
Following his exit, reports also surfaced about an anonymous whistle blower writing to the company's US office about a channel partner violating norms for a contract from the Andhra Pradesh government. Oracle had strongly denied those reports.
Kumar refused to elaborate on what led to Mathur's sudden exit and said the company is moving ahead with its plans to roll out offices in smaller cities and invest in sales force. The company sees greater business from the public sector following a new government at the Centre, he added.
"Our India business is growing better than the global business. We have set up five offices as part of our geo-expansion strategy in Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune and Ahmedabad. The second phase of this expansion will see us growing in the north where there are untapped opportunities," Kumar said.
{{/usCountry}}"Our India business is growing better than the global business. We have set up five offices as part of our geo-expansion strategy in Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune and Ahmedabad. The second phase of this expansion will see us growing in the north where there are untapped opportunities," Kumar said.
{{/usCountry}}"The growth in smaller cities will also be pegged on our cloud offerings," he said.
"Public sector is an important focus area and the digitisation initiatives under the current regime offer huge business opportunities for us to partner for improving government operations and citizen service delivery mechanisms," he said.
According to a Gartner study, public sector spending in IT products and services in India is likely to hit $6.4 billion (Rs 39,260 crore) in 2014. The pace of spending in India may make it the third-largest IT market in the Asia-Pacific by 2016 and second-largest by 2018, the report said.